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Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Chairperson Rajendra Lingden’s decision to remove the party’s disciplinary chief Navaraj Subedi and spokesperson Sagun Sunder Lawoti has intensified internal divisions.

Earlier, Subedi publicly declared that he had relinquished all party responsibilities, including his ordinary membership, to lead the pro-monarchy movement. Since then, both Subedi and Lawoti have been actively involved in royalist activities. They subsequently filed complaints with the Election Commission, challenging their removal. Subedi argued that Lingden’s decision violated the party’s statute.

Party spokesperson Mohan Shrestha stated that Lingden dismissed Subedi and appointed Roshan Karki as the new head of the disciplinary committee. Shrestha contended that since Subedi had already abandoned his ordinary membership, he could not hold any position without his reinstatement. However, senior leaders, including General Secretary Dhawal Shumsher Rana and Prakash Chandra Lohani, opposed the move.

“The party president’s decision to remove me breached the party’s statute because there was no Central Committee decision or prior consultation with me,” Subedi said.

Tensions have long simmered between senior leaders Rabindra Mishra and Dhawal Shumsher Rana. On March 28, they joined mass protests at the call of Durga Prasain, defying the party leadership. Both Mishra and Rana face court cases for allegedly inciting violence but have since walked free on bail.

The removal of Lawoti as spokesperson and Subedi as disciplinary chief further angered rival factions, who called the moves unconstitutional. Critics have accused Lingden of weak leadership in the royalist movement, pressuring him to launch a decisive campaign to restore the monarchy. However, Lingden maintained that the time was not yet ripe for such an effort.

Although RPP eventually announced a prolonged and decisive movement, it fizzled out quickly. For some time, a faction within the party has been privately urging former king Gyanendra Shah that the movement cannot succeed under Lingden’s leadership, contributing to strained relations between the two.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he will send Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine, saying they are necessary to defend the country because Russian President Vladimir Putin "talks nice but then he bombs everybody in the evening," Reuters reported.

Trump did not give a number of Patriots he plans to send to Ukraine, but he said the United States would be reimbursed for their cost by the European Union. The U.S. president has grown increasingly disenchanted with Putin because the Russian leader has resisted Trump's attempts to negotiate a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has asked for more defensive capabilities to fend off a daily barrage of missile and drone attacks from Russia.

"We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need, because Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then bombs everybody in the evening. But there's a little bit of a problem there. I don't like it," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington, according to Reuters.

Lawmakers have drawn the government's attention to the challenges facing the Tarai /Madhes region due to a lack of rainfall, which has affected rice planting this year.

They stated that several districts in the region are still waiting for rain and urged the government to declare the area as drought-affected and introduce and implement relief programmes.

Krishna Kumar Shrestha highlighted that districts such as Bara and Parsa are also facing an acute shortage of drinking water. 

Independent lawmaker Amresh Kumar Singh said a prolonged drought has caused severe water shortages for both household use and irrigation, from Birgunj to Janakpur.

Ramkrishna Yadav of the Nepali Congress informed the House that hand tube wells and wells in the Tarai /Madhes are drying up due to the ongoing drought.

Gyan Bahadur Shahi of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party expressed concern over the removal of the Jumla-based Water Supply and Sewage Management Office. 

Chhiring Lhamu Lama (Tamang) of the CPN (Maoist Center) also opposed the decision, urging authorities to ensure timely completion of the Dhauligad Greater Drinking Water Project in Jumla.

Kantika Sejuwal of the Nepali Congress accused the state of discriminating against citizens of the Karnali region and voiced concern over the closure of the Jumla-based Sewage Office.

Sita Kumari Rana of the Nepali Congress informed the House that the academic calendar of Tribhuvan University has been affected by the ongoing protests of part-time teachers. She emphasized the need to implement a report aimed at managing the issues of part-time teachers.

Rekha Sharma of the CPN (Maoist Center) accused the government of making it more difficult for citizens to access the health insurance facility. 

Meanwhile, Durga Rai from the same party alleged that appointments of chiefs of the Kaski District Revenue Office and the Land Commission were influenced by money and favoritism.

Sumana Shrestha of the Rastriya Swatantra Party reiterated her party’s demand to form a high-level investigation committee or commission to address the visit visa scam. After she finished presenting her views, the party’s lawmakers walked out of the meeting hall in protest. 

Lawmakers call for prompt rescue, relief and rehabilitation of flood-affected people in Rasuwa 

Meanwhile, the lawmakers have urged the government for the prompt search for the missing, treatment for the injured, and for rescue, relief and rehabilitation of the victims of the floods in the Lhende River on the Nepal-China border in Rasuwagadhi.

The flooding was caused by the bursting of the Supraglacial lake on the morning of July 8.

In today's meeting of the House of Representatives, they emphasized that the concerned agencies need to pay timely attention to the matter, as it has been almost a week since the flood incident occurred, and the search for the missing has not been carried out vigorously.

During the special hour of the HoR meeting, lawmaker Mohan Acharya mentioned that due to the flood, a 30 megawatt capacity hydroelectric project was damaged, the Miteri Bridge was swept away, 20 people are missing on the Nepal side and 11 on the China side, and more than a hundred electric vehicles were swept away by the flood. 

He demanded that rescue, search, and reconstruction should be expedited.

"With many structures being built near the river areas, we have suffered a lot of damage now. We must construct disaster-resilient infrastructure anticipating the occurrence of natural disasters. We need to pay attention to air rescue matters. Considering the risks that climate change can bring, we must prioritize adaptation programmes now," said Acharya.

Hit Bahadur Tamang also urged the government to expedite the rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts for the flood-affected people of Rasuwa. He stressed on promptly reconstructing the infrastructure damaged due to the flooding.

Lawmaker Achyut Prasad Mainali praised the current government led by KP Sharma Oli, stating that with the current government's one year in office, the construction of the parapet at the cricket stadium in Kirtipur has reached the final stage, transitional justice has reached a conclusion, foreign investment has increased, extraction of petroleum products in Dailekh, the Gwarko overpass, the Nagdhunga–Thanakot tunnel, the acceleration of the Siddhbaba tunnel construction, and the swift progress of the Narayangadh–Butwal and Muglin–Pokhara road construction.

According to Mainali, we need to move forward together for prosperity, good governance, and development based on the feelings of the people. 

Meanwhile, Rajendra Pandey, a member of the Nepal Communist Party (Unified Socialist), called for action against those guilty, stating that the issue of two government ministers taking bribes has come into public.

He demanded that the government should promptly respond as questions have been raised about the Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration and the Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation in that connection.

Similarly, lawmakers Sushila Shrestha of Janata Samajbadi Party, Abdul Khan of the Janamat Party, Rekha Yadav of Janata Samjbadi Party Nepal, Ram Prakash Chaudhary of the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party, Prem Suwal of Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party, Chitra Bahadur KC of Rastriya Janamorcha Party, Prabhu Sah of Aam Janata Party, independent MP Yogendra Mandal, Nagina Yadav of the Nepali Congress and Tara Lama of the CPN (UML) called attention of the government on various issues of public importance.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has extended his best wishes to all on the occasion of the 212th birth anniversary of the pioneer poet Bhanubhakta Acharya.

Prime Minister Oli today took to his social media account to extend his best wishes on the occasion of Bhanu Jayanti  while noting that the poet  connected the Nepalis with a bridge of language and emotions, after immersing the Ramayana into the minds of the people. 

"Tributes to Bhanubhakta who initiated the first ever writing in the Nepali language and heartiest wishes to all the literati on Bhanubhakta Jayanti,” the Prime Minister wrote.

The 212th birth anniversary of poet and litterateur Bhanubhakta Acharya is being celebrated across the country today with a variety of programs.